On September 25, 2016, Rev. Kenjo Igarashi gave a sermon at the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church that he described as Consciousness Only as interpreted by the Nichiren school. (Here’s my post on the subject.) At the time I had been practicing Nichiren Shu Buddhism for less than two years. The sermon, complete with a hand-drawn chart, opened my mind to a new way of looking at the Buddha within.

This view of Buddha nature within everyone concealed by the cloud of our errant thoughts, words and actions is not different from the teaching found in the Sixth Patriarch’s Dharma Jewel Platform sutra.

Consider how he redirects the Four Great Vows inward from something pointing to the outside world.

Good and Wise Friends, now that you have repented, I will teach you how to make the four great all-encompassing vows. Listen carefully:

Though the living beings of my own mind are limitless, I vow to liberate them all.
Though the afflictions of my own mind are limitless, I vow to change them all.
Though the Dharma teachings of my own nature could never be exhausted, I vow to learn them all.
Though the Buddhahood of my own nature is unsurpassed, I vow to realize it.

Good and Wise Friends, all of you just said, “I vow to liberate the limitless living beings of my own mind.” But what does that mean? It does not mean that I, Huineng, liberate them!

Good and Wise Friends, the “living beings” within your own mind are the deluded thoughts, deceitful and untrue thoughts, unwholesome thoughts, jealous thoughts, malicious thoughts – all mental states like these, are “living beings.” Each must be liberated from within your own nature. This is true liberation.

What is meant by liberating yourself through your own essential nature? It means liberating the living beings of false views, the afflictions and delusions within your own mind by means of right views. Once you have right views, you use the wisdom of prajña to lay bare and untangle [your] mistaken, confused and deluded “living beings.” You yourself liberate each and every one. When falseness occurs, liberate it with truth; when confusion arises, liberate it with awakening; when delusion sets in, liberate it with wisdom, when evil takes hold, liberate it with goodness. Liberation like this is true liberation.

Further, “I vow to change the limitless afflictions” means using the prajña wisdom of your own essential nature to rectify the vain and dissolute impulses and ideas of your own mind.

Further, “I vow to learn the inexhaustible Dharma teachings,” means to discern your own nature and always act on true principle. This is true learning.

As for “I vow to realize unsurpassed Buddhahood,” this is just always cultivating what is true, appropriate, and right with a humble attitude. You sustain a prajña that is beyond delusion or awakening, and the [relativities of] true and false, but instead, see the buddha-nature directly, and realize the Buddha’s awakening effortlessly, immediately. The power of these vows lies in constant mindful cultivation.

Most telling to me is the Patriarch’s insistence that there is nothing to be found outside one’s self.

The Master said:

All of you, please listen carefully. In the future, if people who are lost and confused can recognize living beings, they will [find] the buddha-nature. If they don’t get to know living beings, they could seek for the Buddha throughout endless aeons and never meet him. I am now teaching you: recognize the living beings of your own mind – the buddha-nature is found right within your own mind. If you wish to see the Buddha, simply come to know these living beings. For it is these living beings who have lost sight of the Buddha, not the Buddha who has lost sight of living beings.

When awakened to the essential nature, the living being is a Buddha. Confused about your essential nature, the “buddha” is a living being.

If your essential nature is balanced and centered, the living being is a Buddha. When your essential nature deviates off course, the “buddha” is a living being.

If your mind is devious and crooked, the “buddha” is concealed within the living being. But with one thought balanced and trued, the living being becomes a Buddha. Our own mind itself holds the Buddha, and this inherent Buddha is the real Buddha. If our own mind did not have its own inherent Buddha, where could the real Buddha be sought? Your own mind is the Buddha. Never doubt this! There is nothing that can be established outside of this mind; for the mind gives rise to the myriad dharmas. Therefore, the Sutra says, “The mind aroused, then all dharmas arise. The mind stilled, all dharmas are stilled.”

How does one find this Buddha? Begin with right thoughts. Below is a portion of a verse that the Sixth Patriarch offered to his monastic and lay listeners, advising them to take it to heart and recite it daily.

If you point out others’ faults,
Your fault-finding itself is a fault;
Others’ faults I do not fault,
As for my own faults, I blame myself.

Just get rid of the fault-finding attitude;
Once cast aside, the afflictions vanish;
When attraction and aversion no longer block the mind,
Stretch out both legs and lie down.

If you hope to teach and transform others,
You yourself must have the skillful means;
Do not raise doubts in others,
And their essential-nature will manifest by itself.

The Buddha Dharma is right here in the world,
There is no awakening apart from this world;
To search for Bodhi somewhere beyond this world,
Is like looking for a rabbit with antlers.

In a lesson on virtue and merit, the Sixth Patriarch said:

People who cultivate merit and virtue harbor no thoughts of belittling others; instead they show respect to all. If you are always slighting others in your heart, and are constantly self-centered, then you have no merit. If your own nature is vain and false, you lack any virtue. It is only because they consider themselves to be great that they always belittle others.

Good and Wise Friends, [cultivating] continuously in thought after thought is merit; an unbiased, sincere, straightforward mind is virtue. Self-cultivation of one’s own nature is merit; cultivation of one’s own person is virtue. Good and Wise Friends, merit and virtue must manifest from within your own nature; do not seek for them by making donations and offerings. That is the difference between blessings, and merit and virtue. Emperor Wu did not un-derstand this principle. Our Patriarch was not in error.

The Sixth Patriarch’s teaching repeatedly points out the danger of fault-finding. In a lesson on meditation he offered:

If you attach to an idea of purity, you will only end up with a false sense of purity. It is a delusion, unreal. This attachment is wrong. Purity has no shape or appearance, and yet there are those who create the appearance of purity and consider it skilled meditation. This attitude only covers over your own original nature; you become entangled in purity.

Good and Wise Friends, someone who cultivates not-moving, when he observes other people does not notice their rights or wrongs, good or bad sides, or their faults and failings. Just this is the unmoving, essential nature.

Good and Wise Friends, deluded people might make their bodies immobile, but as soon as they open their mouths they gossip about others’ rights and wrongs, their good qualities and shortcomings-and in doing so, they turn their backs on the Way. So, if you fixate on the mind and cling to purity, this just obstructs the Way.

I am going to conclude my discussion of The Sixth Patriarch’s Dharma Jewel Platform Sutra with this:

The Dharma is originally a single school; it is people who think ‘north’ and ‘south.’ The Dharma is of one kind; but the understanding of it may be ‘direct’ or ‘gradual.’ So why the terms ‘direct’ and ‘gradual’? Dharma itself is neither ‘direct’ nor ‘gradual.’ Rather it is people who are sharp or dull. Hence the terms ‘direct’ and ‘gradual.’

Something to keep in mind.

The Sixth Patriarch’s Dharma Jewel Platform Sutra
The Practice
Practice Beyond Reciting
Seeking the Pure Land in the Wrong Place
Our Inherent Buddha Nature